Rain's Book of Challenges
by The Song of Rain
Summary: The place where I keep all my challenges for Warriors forums and some random pieces of writing. Enjoy!
1. Nine Life Challenge for Feathers & Frost

Warriors – Nine Lives Challenge for Feathers and Frost

 _Word Minimum: 500_

 _Write about a cat receiving their nine lives!_

Stormfast shivered and not just because of the cold air that drifted past her furry coat, nipping her skin. Her fur was fluffed up against the chilly, leaf-bare breezes but the cold raked its claws through her fur regardless. _What if this cold is a sign from Starclan that I'm not the right cat,_ she pondered forlornly. These thoughts had barely manifested in her mind when the lithe grey she-cat shook her head, an attempt to rid herself of the despondent thoughts that had been plaguing her ever since she had left the warmth and safety of camp for the long, cold trek to the Moonpool. _But my clan needs me._ That single thought had kept her sane and optimistic enough for her to come as far as she had.

The white-furred cat by her side gently turned to look her troubled companion in the eye, as though she had somehow felt the grey she-cat's internal strife.

"He believed in you, you know," whispered Snowfeather comfortingly. "That's why he made you his deputy."

"But what if I'm not the right cat?" asked Stormfast uncertainly, averting her gaze from the keen, blue orbs that encompassed knowledge beyond the white tabby's years. "What if the cold and winds are a sign from Starclan that I'm not meant to be leader?"

"What fox dung," replied the white tabby hotly, which was unusual for the placid medicine cat but Stormfast supposed that it was the hunger and cold which had ruffled her pelt as well. "It's leaf-bare. It's supposed to be cold and windy."

Stormfast did not reply but she couldn't help but be grateful towards the medicine cat for her unwavering faith in her.

Presently, the two cats arrived at their destination, a placid, starry pool. The chilly air was silent and crisp. Pawprints were visible on the ground. Pawprints that looked older than those of the medicine cats who shared tongues with Starclan at the pool every half-moon. A soft voice disrupted Stormfast's observation of the ancient, sacred pool.

"Take a sip from the pool," whispered Snowfeather serenely, not in the least intrigued or remotely apprehensive of what was to come.

Stormfast complied, briefly lapping the crisp, cold water which tasted slightly different from the water that she was accustomed to. _Perhaps this is what stars taste like,_ thought the she-cat dimly.

Stormfast vividly registered the world around her swirling as the pool faded and was soon replaced by a great expanse of bright light, which upon closer inspection, Stormfast realized were shining cats with twinkling stars gleaming in their fur.

A voice echoed timelessly throughout the tranquil place and Stormfast was never able to make up her mind as to whether it was coming from a single cat or everyone who stood before her.

"Stormfast, are you ready to receive your nine lives?"

Stormfast's heart pounded so rapidly that she was sure that it was going to burst out of her chest. Stormfast briefly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She felt like she was frozen and her every limb felt like it was made of stone. Her gaze flitted around her as she took in everything surrounding her when they settled on Snowfeather, her blue eyes shining with trust and hope. She gave a reassuring nod and Stormfast found it in herself to slowly nod her head in reply to the starry cats.

The mass of shining cats surged towards her and Stormfast was able to make out the faces of cats, familiar faces.

Out of the massive body of cats, a few broke off from the rest and came even closer to her.

A handsome, young brown tabby who seemed to know her very well approached her first. This cat seemed vaguely familiar yet she was unable to recall who he was.

"It's nice to see you again, Stormfast," he mewed teasingly, having noticed her failure to recognize him.

"Adderstar," she exclaimed, surprise lighting up her eyes as she recognized the sharp mew of her former clan leader. This jovial brown tabby looked so different from the troubled, grim tom she had known as Adderstar. Happiness lit up his face, something she had never thought that she would find on the old leader's face.

"With this life I give you confidence," he whispered touching noses with the grey she-cat. Energy surged through her veins in place of blood and filled her with confidence. She felt as though she had it in her to accomplish anything, race through the land, fly in the sky, anything that she ever wanted to do. Her fears and uncertainties vanished as she realized that she had it in her to lead her clan.

"There is nothing you cannot do if you believe in yourself," murmured the tabby.

Thank you, Adderstar," she replied

Adderstar dipped his head and padded back to join the rest of the cats.

Her heart lifted with joy as the next cat, a black and white tom, came up to her. She relished the comforting scent that she had forgotten so long ago. Ever since Fastpaw had joined the ranks of Starclan in place of two Shadowclan kits. She had never forgiven him or the Shadowclan cats for it and it was just one of the many burdens that weighed down her heart.

"With this life I give you forgiveness," he murmured, his eyes shining with affection as he leaned forward to touch noses with the littermate he had lost when he had to join Starclan. The pain of all the deeds that she had never forgiven seemed to claw at her insides but relief washed it away almost instantly as realization dawned on her. Those were things of the past and could never be changed but she could lighten her burden. She could forgive and forget them.

"Find it in your heart to forgive those who have hurt. Remember that it is yourself that you hurt most when you choose to live in the horrors of the past.

"Thank you, Fastpaw," she mewed in a barely audible whisper. "And I'm sorry, I understand now."

Fastpaw dipped his head, contented before he retreated into the shining sea of cats.

A beautiful tortoiseshell she-cat walked up to her, pride and admiration in her gaze.

"With this life I give you mentoring," she whispered, touching noses with her former apprentice.

Tension and fear and worry, almost too much to bear, coursed through Stormfast as she realized how apprehensive and concerned every mentor was about their apprentice.

"Use it to guide the young cats of the clan well," advised Leafpelt.

"Thank you, for the life and for teaching me, Leafpelt," whispered Stormfast gratefully. "I'm sorry if I was a troublesome apprentice."

The she-cat gently nuzzled her former apprentice. "You were the best apprentice a mentor could ever want and I'm so very proud of you."

Leafpelt joined the other cats but not before giving Stormfast one last affectionate glance.

The next cat was a golden-furred tom with amber eyes that bored into Stormfast's green ones.

"With this life I give you appreciation of a medicine cat's work," murmured the former medicine cat of Thunderclan. Stormfast shivered as she felt the worries of a medicine cat and the pain of the lives that they were unable to save. She felt so exhausted that it was almost a miracle that she hadn't collapsed. Weariness tore at her but she knew she couldn't ive in because her clan relied on her day in and day out. When the feeling passed, Stormfast made a mental note to watch out for Snowfeather more often.

"Make sure Snowfeather takes care of herself and that she gets help if she needs it. It won't do the clan much good if their medicine cat works herself until she's ill," reminded the tom before retreating back to the other cats.

"Thank you," Stormfast called after him.

A handsome, black-furred tom that Stormfast remembered only too well approached her next.

"Darkclaw," she purred, eagerly leaning forward as the tom came closer to her until the tip of his nose was barely a whisker's length away from her. Her eyes shone as she gazed at the dark warrior who had stolen her heart many moons ago and shattered it when he had succumbed to greencough more recently.

"Darkclaw," she whispered once again, this time so softly that it was barely audible.

She whispered it as though saying his name any louder would shatter the moment. Darkclaw gazed into her leaf-green eyes unblinkingly, his eyes lit with affection.

"With this life I give you love," he whispered, touching noses with her. A warmth spread through her blood and fur and bones from the tip of her nose to the rest of her body when Darkclaw touched her. There was something soothing and comforting about it and Stormfast felt safe and happy as though she was cocooned in unconditional love and affection. A brief stab of longing pierced her as the blissful feeling melted away.

"Use it to make your clanmates feel safe and beloved," he murmured as he gave her a gentle lick and melted back into the crowd of cats.

Next, a diminutive, stubby-legged kit padded towards her. She was the size of a newborn kit but the vast understanding and knowledge flickering in her amber eyes betrayed wisdom beyond the kit's age.

"I'm Hopekit," she mewed cordially. More playfully she added, "I hope you haven't forgotten me."

"How could I?" murmured Stormfast, her heart melting at the sight of the kit she had never gotten to know. Motherly instinct long buried stirred within her and she longed to caress the kit and share tongues with her.

"We will get to do that someday but not today," mewed the kit reading her thoughts. A note of solemnity crept into the kit's voice as she tiptoed and Stormfast crouched lower to the ground to touch noses. "With this life I give you hope."

Stormfast suddenly felt an optimism that she could face her burdens and worries with vigor as positive energy seemed to course through her veins, rejuvenating her. She felt as though no matter what happened, Starclan would guide her and help her lead her clan well.

"Use it to keep going when things seem bleak because if you search hard enough, you will always find stars even in the darkest of nights," she mewed before retreating to the other cats and getting absorbed amongst them.

A sturdy grey-furred tom approached her next. His amber eyes glowed with pride as he neared her. His fur was neatly groomed and spotlessly clean. There was a lively gleam in his gaze and he seemed such a different cat from when Stormfast had last seen him, his fur plastered with blood and grime and river of blood flowing from the gash in his flank. Before long his eyes had closed forever and he had reeked of the scent of death.

"Greysnow," Stormfast choked.

Greysnow gave an almost inaudible purr and touched his nose to his daughter's. "With this life I give you wisdom."

Stormfast felt as though an invisible burden of knowledge pressed her towards the ground. Her legs almost buckled under the force and for a heartbeat, Stormfast thought that she wouldn't be able to take the pain but remembering Adderstar's life, she took a deep breath and tried to convince herself that she could take it. The pain and pressure gradually gave way to relief as they lifted and Stormfast straightened her legs.

"Use it to make your decisions well," he advised, affectionately brushing her cheek before joining the rest of the cats.

"Thank you," she whispered.

The next cat was a kindly tabby she-cat. Her gentle green gaze shone with pride as she approached the kit she had borne and nourished in the nursery many moons ago, now grown up and having her leadership ceremony.

"Doestep," purred Stormfast.

"With this life I give you compassion," mewed the former queen, touching noses with Stormfast. "Sometimes the best thing to do is listen to your heart."

Pain seared Stormfast and she squeezed her eyes shut. It gradually melted away to a comforting warmth which reminded Stormfast of the time when she was a kit huddled up against Doestep.

Doestep retreated into the crowd of cats.

 _One more life,_ thought Stormfast. _One more life and I'll be Stormfast no more._

A glossy black-furred she-cat padded up to Stormfast. Her green eyes shone bright. It took Stormfast a moment to place this strong, lithe she-cat whom she recognized as none other than Ravenfrost, a resident of the elders' den until Stormfast had become a warrior. She had joined Starclan peacefully in the silence and stillness of the night.

"With this life I give you acceptance," she whispered as they touched noses. Stormfast steeled herself for the blast of anguish and quivered as pain flowed through her veins like molten steel. This was the most painful life in ways more than one. There was an explosion of complicated emotions inside her, guilt, confusion, anger, hatred. The pain gradually faded away but left an imprint and message in Stormfast's mind eternally.

Suddenly, all the starry cats swarmed around her and spoke as one yet as many. "Welcome Stormstar, new leader of Thunderclan!" Her heart flittered and her eyes shone with renewed pride and confidence as she gazed at the mass of starlit cats chanting her name, reminding her of the time when she had become an apprentice, warrior and deputy, except now she was a leader and the cats of Starclan were cheering for her.

"Stormstar! Stormstar! Stormstar!" cheered the cats.

Stormstar took a deep breath, her first breath in this new life. As Stormstar, leader of Thunderclan.


	2. One-Shot Challenge for Feathers & Frost

**Word Minimum: Five complete sentences.**

 **Write a one shot, about a paragraph long, about anything to do with Warriors. Similar to Drabble.**

Relief coursed through my veins as I pinned the dark gray tabby tom to the ground and fastened my teeth and claws into his neck.

I was hesitant to do it, to rip the life from the body of this Starclan-forsaken cat.

I had followed the warrior code like a loyal warrior would but everything happening now was a violation of the warrior code and the honor of the clans.

In that heartbeat that seemed like eternity, I was knocked to the ground by white-furred warrior

The cat that I had been fighting earlier sprang on my hindquarters and held me down.

The white-pelted cat swiped his black paw along my throat, scoring his claws through the life-giving artery.

A river of blood poured forth and a brief gurgling cry escaped me.

My body collapsed into the pool of blood underneath me, my blood.

The pain seared through my throat but in a few heartbeats it ceased.

My vision blacked out to the sight of the triumphant cats at their measly and unjust victory against a starved and maltreated warrior.

My last thought before the darkness consumed me was that my life might be the cost of freedom for the two of them.


	3. Hollypaw's Woe

**This isn't actually a challenge for any forum. It's just a random piece of writing that I did and decided to post. Hope you enjoy it!**

Hollypaw gave a sigh as she set to work, sorting the herbs. The air was thick with the scent of multiple herbs, some of which were dried and shrivelled. She absent-mindedly sorted the herbs, her paws acting on their own accord. Her mind, on the other hand, was completely absent from the medicine cat den.

Hollypaw was wallowing in self-doubt, as she had been doing for the past moon. She felt like a confused kit that had lost its way and for a heartbeat, she wanted to snuggle up against her mother and wail in unhappiness and frustration. Hopelessness had been creeping up on her for a while, to the point where she was wearing it like a second pelt.  
She had tried so hard. So hard to be a good medicine cat for her clan. She devoured Leapool's lessons about herbs as a starving cat would do prey and tried her best to be of service to her clan but the sinking feeling that she was failing them haunted her every waking heartbeat.

In one way or another, she would always end up forgetting the herbs to use for a certain situation or the thought of checking her clanmates' wounds after a battle would slip from her mind.

She was nothing like Leafpool who never forgot anything and would work from dawn to dusk, making poultices for the elders' aching joints, or swiftly extracting thorns from the paw pads of an unfortunate warrior. All of the numerous things that Leafpool did were done with a perfection and efficiency that constantly evaded Hollypaw's grasp.

And then there was Jaypaw. He wasn't even a medicine cat but he seemed to know all the herbs and poultices far better than her even after her moons of training. He could smell infected wounds from a tail-length away while she could completely miss them even with her sight. He never forgot the herbs or their uses. How could she be a good medicine cat apprentice if a warrior apprentice without medicine cat training knew more than her.

She remembered why she had wanted to become a medicine cat to begin with. She had so desperately desired to be important and invaluable to her clan and healing her clanmates as well as communicating with Starclan had fulfilled that longing. But being a medicine cat was not what she had imagined it to be. She had never considered how hard and painful it would be to treat her clanmates' injuries and watch them squirm in agony as the poultices seeped into their already stinging wounds. She had never thought it a difficult task to pick herbs and mix them into poultices until she gathered and added the wrong herbs to poultices.

She had wanted so badly to be a good medicine cat but the necessary skills constantly eluded her while claws of hopelessness and frustration tore into her skin, ripping her pelt to shreds. It was her greatest desire, to become a medicine cat, but now, she wondered whether she was really cut out to be one.

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **~Rain**


	4. Love(One) Challenge for Feathers & Frost

Love – Chapter One

Write about two incompatible cats and their kits.

Word minimum: 1500 Words (500 Words per Chapter)

The rhythmic gurgling of the stream by the Riverclan camp was a soothing lullaby for the frustrated queen in the nursery, who felt as though the stream was a kindly mother offering her comfort to the queen, ever since she had been a blind, mewling newborn until now, with the never ceasing song that she sang. The silver and black tabby queen gazed at the two silver-furred kits nuzzled against her belly with a warm, cosy fire crackling in her sky-blue eyes.

Both, Lilykit and Stonekit had pelts just like hers and to her, they were the loveliest, most angelic scraps of fur to have their paws on the earth. They were the very embodiment of love and Featherbreeze knew that she would fight even Starclan to keep these kits happy and safe. She gave a soft purr and pressed her nose gently against the tiny scraps of fur that she had borne.

She wasn't sure whether that beautiful moment had lasted for a heartbeat or an eternity but she did know that it had come to an end for the time being when a mud-furred tom padded into the nursery gently carrying a similar pelted kit who was mewling continuously in his jaws. His amber eyes, ablaze with love and joy hardened when he saw the silver tabby glaring at him and the kit with hatred and contempt.

"Troutclaw," she mewed icily and then she asked even though she already knew the answer. "What brings you here?"

"Pebblekit is hungry," he replied, his tone calm and level although his fierce gaze betrayed his anger and hatred towards the spiteful she-cat.

"And?" she asked silkily, deriving pleasure from forcing the tom that she much despised to beg for help from her.

"I need you to feed him," he responded almost spitting out the words. "Please."

He longed to drive his claws through the silky she-cat's fur and have her neck in his jaws but he knew that he would never be able to do that. The clan would exile him or worse execute him if he did that and then Starclan knew what would happen to Pebblekit if he was left alone with the ruthless queen with no one to watch out for him. Featherbreeze was Reedstar's daughter so the clan leader had turned a blind eye to her treatment of Pebblekit and the rest of the clan had followed suit. She was the only queen in the nursery so he didn't have anyone else to feed Pebblekit as well.

"Fine," she mewed, smirking as she heard the words leave the tom's mouth.

She roughly grabbed the mud-furred kit by the scruff and shoved it against her belly, a gap between it and her kits. The mud-furred kit began to suckle after a few heartbeats and lay next to the cold queen, blissfully unaware of the queen's hatred of him.

Troutclaw watched the kit affectionately, wishing that he would have the privilege of growing up with a mother who loved him but all he had was Troutclaw, who was desperately trying to fill in the roles of both parents by himself. Once the kit was done, Featherbreeze grabbed the kit by its scruff, careful to leave an almost invisible nick on the kit's neck underneath its fur at which the kit let out a feeble mewl. Troutclaw tensed and the fur along his back rose but seeing no visible harm done to Pebblekit, he forced his fur to lie flat and took the kit gently in his jaws. Pebblekit was drowsy after the milk and Troutclaw carefully placed him in a small nest that he had made for the kit. The kit closed its eyes and within a few heartbeats, had been lost to dreams.

Troutclaw wrapped himself around Pebblekit and licked him affectionately like a queen would have done. Troutclaw suddenly turned to Featherbreeze.

"Whatever your problem is with me, you have no reason to take it out on Pebblekit," he growled. "Besides, what kind of queen neglects her kit?"

"You don't understand the pain that comes with having kits, especially when their father is an incompetent, Starclan-forsaken tom like you," she hissed. "That piece of fox-dung is a worthless copy of his useless father."

"Pebblekit is your kit as much as he is mine," Troutclaw snarled, his fur bristling.

"When I look at Lilykit and Stonekit, I am proud to be the mother of such beautiful, fine kits but Pebblekit is just a horrible reminder of who the father was," she retorted, letting the words sink in and hurt the tom as much as claws and fangs could.

Hurt briefly flashed in Troutclaw's eyes at her harsh words and triumph lit up her face.

" _You_ chose me as your mate," he whispered, choking back the sorrow and hurt that he felt. "It was _your_ decision."

"Because I loved you at first," she whispered, barely audibly, the impassive, callous mask that she always wore fading away. "I truly did but you never trusted me. You always believed that I was still in love with Breezeclaw. That's why you would follow me everywhere I went. And if you couldn't, you would ask Birdpaw to keep tabs on me. I knew everything, Troutclaw. I always did. But I didn't say anything because some part of me hoped that you would trust me one day but you never did. You never did. How could you possibly love me when you didn't even trust me? I wanted to be loved and trusted, Troutclaw. That's all I wanted but you could never do that for me. You never loved me. Not truly."

The next few heartbeats were so silent that you could hear the mild gust that had made its way into the Riverclan camp.

"I'm sorry for what I did, Featherbreeze," he whispered, his eyes tearing up with remorse. "I never knew that I had hurt you, that you felt that way but after the kits, I've changed. I want to be a cat that you can love and even if you never can forgive me, please don't take it out on the kits because they don't deserve to pay the price for our mistakes."

"It's too late for that now, Troutclaw," she hissed coldly, the sorrow and vulnerability gone and the apathetic mask back in place. "You've changed and so have I."


End file.
